Feb 27 - DAY 15 - Formed for God's Family

Day 15

Formed for God’s Family

Jesus replied, "I assure you,

unless you are born again,

you can never see

the Kingdom of God."

John 3:3 NLT

What’s the only thing you can take with you to heaven?

•      It’s not silver and gold.
•      It’s not house and cars.
•      It’s relationships! It’s our relationship with God and our relationship with other believers.

Rick Warren says, “Because God is love, he treasures relationships. His very nature is relational, and he identifies himself in family terms: Father, Son, and Spirit.” There are family benefits when we are (re)born into his family. First of all, we get the “the family name.” There’s also “the family likeness, family privileges, intimate family access, and the family inheritance.”

Then Rick Warren says something truthful … but hard for many. He says, “Your spiritual family is even more important than your physical family because it will last forever.”

Do you believe that?

In the teen version of Not a Fan, Pastor Kyle Idleman told of sharing the Gospel in a remote village in Africa. The next day, two young men showed up at the door of his missionary host. They had suitcases in their hand. The missionary explained that when they converted, their family disowned them.

Living in a culture that doesn’t disown people, that’s hard to imagine. But these men saw themselves as transferring from the path to destruction to the Kingdom of Light. And they counted the cost. They weighed it. And they determined the life in Christ – here now, and eternally – was worth the cost.

Now … these new converts will certainly hope that their closest relatives follow them on the path to life. I have a Japanese pastor-friend for whom this happened. The light of his faith inspired his whole family. Nevertheless, throughout history and throughout the world today, people are making a hard but life-giving choice: They’d rather be earthly orphans yet children of God … than the other way around (worldly children who are estranged from the eternal Father).

It doesn’t cost us much in this culture to change. So what’s holding you back? … or more likely, since you’re reading this: What’s hold you back from sharing your love and faith and testimony with someone you love?

In Christ’s Love,

a guy who’s greedy

… not for silver and gold

… but for a lot of relationships

to take with me to heaven